Matthew Henry on Genesis 7:13-16
Here is repeated what was related before of Noah's entrance into the ark, with his family and creatures that were marked for preservation. Now,
I. It is thus repeated for the honour of Noah, whose faith and obedience herein shone so brightly, by which he obtained a good report, and who herein appeared so great a favourite of Heaven and so great a blessing to this earth.
II. Notice is here taken of the beasts going in each after his kind, according to the phrase used in the history of the creation (Gen 1:21-25), to intimate that just as many kinds as were created at first were saved now, and no more; and that this preservation was as a new creation: a life remarkably protected is, as it were,…
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There went in two and two--Doubtless they were led by a divine impulse. The number would not be so large as at first sight one is apt to imagine. It has been calculated that there are not more than three hundred distinct species of beasts and birds, the immense varieties in regard to form, size, and color being traceable to the influence of climate and other circumstances.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 7:12
The rain was upon the earth - Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the rain began on the 18th day of the second month, or Marcheshvan, and that it ceased on the 28th of the third month, Cisleu.
John Gill on Genesis 7:14
They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind,.... They, Noah and his family, went into the ark; as did all sorts of beasts and cattle, reckoned one hundred and thirty sorts, by some one hundred and fifty, including serpents:
and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind; supposed to be scarce thirty sorts; not one sort of creature was left out, though ever so small, and despicable:
every fowl after his kind; Bishop Wilkins has divided them into nine sorts, and reckons them up to be one hundred and ninety five in the whole:
every bird of every sort, or "bird of every wing" (k), let their wings be what they will; some, as Ainsworth observe…
